Malc

As someone belonging to a generation of believers in constant anxiety about “God's will” for them, this is refreshing. This book may come off to some as a dry or impersonal approach, but frankly, this is how we ought to be making decisions as Christians the vast majority of the time. I absolutely believe in “writing in the sky” truly happening to some people, because you can't put God in a box - the Scriptures show that much very evidently. But superstitious, ritualistic thinking has infiltrated the thought patterns of many Christians (including myself) and some corrections are necessary. My prayers are now less oriented toward God revealing His will to me and more toward asking for wisdom, discernment, and the strength to resist sin. So helpful!

This review is full of blatant spoilers! TL;DR: the book is great, I recommend it.

Vision of the Future is the excellent conclusion to the setup of Specter of the Past and much of the New Republic entries in the Expanded Universe in general. The story contained within these two books is both compelling and realistic - of course citizens of the New Republic will use one atrocity as an excuse to revive their own old grudges! Zahn plays with a philosophy of judgement and who should be held responsible for something done by people possibly long-dead. I found it fairly remarkable how many favorite New Republic characters turn out to dislike different alien races, but he also doesn't shy away from the thought that common "sins" in those alien cultures play into such attitudes.

Imperial rule is given a much more sympathetic view in this duology than it was ever given in the original movie trilogy. The noble character of Admiral Pellaeon and various planets joining the Empire under "Thrawn" all back up Zahn's clearly-communicated idea that Imperial rule now is very different than Imperial rule under the Emperor. Even the political philosophy of the Empire's more authoritarian rule is given a slightly sympathetic twist due to the chaos brought on by the Caamas Document Crisis. Clearly, though, the Empire still has much work to do when blatantly evil and corrupt political leaders like Moff Disra remain in power.

Reading this book as an adult, it's clear which EU stories Zahn was fond of and which he disliked. Plot points from the X-Wing novels (which I have not read at the time of this review's writing) are given respect and built on. Zahn's later direct collaborations with Michael Stackpole make it clear that he enjoys that writing.

However, Zahn dedicates practically Luke's entire arc in this duology to fixing his character from the wild deviance of previous entries. While a criticism of those particular stories is out of the scope of this review, Zahn definitely sets things back on track. Rather than have try to do everything himself with the incredible Force power he's capable of wielding, Luke elects to give people more agency and deliberately limit his power. Instead of exhibiting the destructive pride that moves one to unilaterally declare himself a Jedi Master, Luke shows tremendous restraint and humility in this book. And Zahn really proves that this is who Luke is supposed to be by citing the original movie trilogy numerous times. I must say that I had a bit of a chuckle at Mara's possible retcon of the Emperor's clones in Dark Empire: "Personally, I’m not convinced it was really him." Really, the only thing that Luke did that was out of character was to kiss Mara (on the lips!!) as she slept. That's just straight-up gross.

The Nirauan plot with The Hand of Thrawn fortress was an absolutely perfect setup for not only Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight, but also the New Jedi Order books and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. "There are a hundred different threats out there that would freeze your blood if you knew about them," Stent says, and he couldn't have been more dead-on. Although it seems that Zahn didn't necessarily have the Vong specifically in mind for this, it still serves the purpose of foreshadowing them. It's a peek into a far graver threat than an evil empire or a civil war: an extragalactic invasion. The fact that Thrawn was so focused on this threat that he cloned himself really sends home how important this is to him.

There's a lot more good that I could say about these novels. Their painstaking faithfulness to Lucas' original trilogy and even the begrudging tolerance of the EU's worst content show a great deal of respect for source material; Zahn knows that he is writing in someone else's universe, not his own. The writing of Moff Disra's "Sinister Triumvirate" perfectly encapsulates Sith traits, especially distrust. Han & Leia are the perfect couple.

A couple minor criticisms:

• Luke and Mara's romance felt just a little bit off. This may be due to the lecture Mara gives Luke about his prior EU escapades. This might be less of a Zahn issue, because he really did need to address that in some way, but maybe it could have been written slightly differently due to the time spent on it. It does at least make sense that their relationship is able to really kick off after all the elephants are addressed.
• Ghent's arc was great, but it hits a bit of a dead end at the Ubiqtorate base. It's excellent that he was willing to sacrifice his life - tremendous character development - but the book clearly hinted at the fact that he could have been killed because of his exact location on the base. His part just ends rather abruptly, and it would have been nice to see it buttoned up more cleanly.

I've written far too much already. SOTP/VOTF tell a truly quality story worthy of the name Star Wars.

A gripping memoir with a dash of apologetics. I read it in just a few days, but would have sat down and read in one session if I could have. Absolutely excellent!

Project Hail Mary is undoubtedly the most enjoyable piece of fiction I've read in a long time. The first chapter hooked me right in and I was immediately invested. The whole book definitely required some self-control so that I didn't just binge chapters until well after my bedtime, which is definitely a witness to how compelling it is!

Spoiler warning for this review, I intend for it to be read by those who have finished the book. I won't bother individually-marking spoiler text as the whole thing is riddled with it.

The good

One of the things I first noticed about this novel is that Andy Weir makes every effort to ground the events of the story in reality. The events of the book are well-grounded in math, physics, and chemistry. Naturally, I as the reader suspend my disbelief at the presence of alien life (especially sentient alien life like the Eridians), but the careful way in which he presents that life makes it believable. It's as though he wants the reader to believe that there is life out in space in the real world.

The book is not only grounded scientifically, but is also seemingly set in the present-day. Taken together, these things should result in a book about the world we live in, with our current space-travel limitations. Weir does start there chronologically, but this "present-day", mathematically-grounded book soon has astronauts traveling 12 light-years to a foreign solar system with technology powered by alien microbes. Again, part of the appeal is just how reasonable it's all made out to be. Wouldn't this be incredible to see in real life?

The book's events feel constantly critical and rarely superfluous. Pretty early on, Weir sets up the expectation that a problem will be solved by our two main characters Dr. Ryland Grace and Rocky, despite whatever extreme difficulty and high risk it presents. So, whenever a new crisis appeared, I was rarely left wondering if it would be solved, but rather how. Thankfully, problem-solving isn't flawless and consistent throughout the book, and the near-deaths of both Grace and Rocky do a good job of communicating that success is not guaranteed. The stakes driving everything forward are a big part of what kept the pages turning. I was never as enthralled with the "flashback" portions of the story, but I understand that they were critical for context as Grace's memory returned.

The goofy

There are not really parts of the book that I'd consider outright bad, so I'll elect to call them goofy instead.

As I previously established, this book is very scientifically grounded, and I respect that a great deal. What I don't respect is the fixation on macro-evolution as the explanation for the origins of everything. This isn't presented as part of the book's speculative fiction elements, but as a part of the book's scientific assumptions. It would be out of this review's scope for me to do a full-length critique of Darwinian evolutionary theory, but suffice it to say that macro-evolution has not been seen or tested scientifically, and thus doesn't have a rightful place alongside the well-tested formulae and observational science in the rest of the novel.

But it gets goofier from here. Chapter 14 features Paris climatologist Dr. François Leclerc, whose dialogue is almost exclusively unvarnished preaching on climate change. This made me laugh out loud at several points. Here is one of his lines verbatim:

And just like that another climate denier is born. See how easy it is? All I have to do is tell you something you don't want to hear.

More of this is repeated during the section where Antarctica is being nuked to release methane. Again, me dunking on climate science isn't something to include in this review. I just think that Weir could have quite easily rewritten Leclerc to be less annoying about it.

The Weir Worldview

The previous notes on evolution and climate change make Weir's views about such things abundantly clear. Fair enough; I expect an author's worldview to be reflected in his writing. He stated himself to be an agnostic in 2012, so assuming this has not changed, such commonly-accepted modern-day beliefs make sense for him to have adopted. However, despite this, it seems the contents of the book itself betray him.

Returning to Chapter 14, Dr. Grace is discussing with Rocky how humans and Eridians may be related. Grace then briefly describes his theory:

The panspermia theory. I argued with Lokken about it all the time. Earth life and Astrophage are way too similar for it to be coincidence. I suspected Earth was "seeded" by some ancestor of Astrophage. Some interstellar progenitor species that infected my planet. But it never occurred to me until now that the same thing might have happened to Erid.

An advanced species that came and "seeded" what would become human life? Sounds like a substitute God to me.

Later in the same chapter, Eva Stratt discusses with Grace and Leclerc what will likely become of her after the launch of the Hail Mary:

"...Once the Hail Mary launches, my authority ends. I'll probably be put on trial by a bunch of pissed-off governments for abuse of power. Might spend the rest of my life in jail. [...] We all have to make sacrifices. If I have to be the world's whipping boy to secure our salvation, then that's my sacrifice to make."

What's this? An all-powerful person being unjustly condemned, yet willingly sacrificing him/herself for the salvation of the world? Sounds awfully familiar.

Truly Weir's biggest self-contradiction is the glorification of self-sacrifice and redemption in this book. The flashback sections clearly establish Dr. Grace as someone very proud and protective of his reputation, and towards the end of the flashbacks, we learn that he was a selfish coward right up through the Hail Mary's launch. But by the end of the book, he not only forfeits the accolades and fame surely awaiting him on Earth, but also is willing to give up his own life for Rocky and the Eridian race. That redemptive character development is nothing short of explicitly Christian.

Concluding thoughts

All of this taken together, it seems that Weir's agnosticism isn't enough for him. I certainly can't blame him. While I don't know the man's heart, I do know that we all speak and write from it, and his writing seems to betray the longing for meaning and virtue we all feel. Those Christian elements tie his whole story together and undoubtedly make this a better book. Really, I can forgive the evolutionary theology and climate change bits in light of this.

Project Hail Mary is tremendous fun and an utterly riveting read. I have high hopes for next year's film adaptation.

Now, relativity is a bit over my head. Maybe I'll understand it someday. But I would be remiss to not conclude with a quote from the eccentric Steve Hatch in Chapter 18:

"Do you believe in God? I know it's a personal question. I do. And I think He was pretty awesome to make relativity a thing, don't you? The faster you go, the less time you experience. It's like He's inviting us to explore the universe, you know?"

A great work of fiction that simultaneously speculates on what the eternal state will be like.